Prompt: Books I want youth to discover
Um. Good Lord. So, so many books. Where to even start?
All right, let me just pick a couple of authors.
Barbara Hambly:
- Darwath series. Portal fantasy; H.P. Lovecraft meets J.R.R. Tolkien. Some elements are a little bit dated, but generally not problematic, and it pulls off some moments that I swear to God only a History major with a martial arts background writing fantasy could have produced.
- Stranger at the Wedding. A spinoff from her Windrose Chronicles, this is the standalone story of a young mage trying to save her sister from a death curse.
- James Asher Novels. Vampires in Victorian-ish London recruit a former-spy-turned-college-professor to find out who's killing them. The series proceeds from there.
Martha Wells:
Look, I know Murderbot gets all the attention and I have no problem with that, but her backlist is equally amazing:
- The Ile-Rein books. Beginning with a sort of Three Musketeers but with magic (The Element of Fire) to a gaslight London murder mystery (Death of the Necromancer) to a trilogy of London Being Bombed in WWII (Fall of Ile-Rein, starting with The Wizard Hunters) and featuring portal fantasy elements. The Death of the Necromancer is particularly amazing, but the whole series is good.
- City of Bones. A pair of hunters for relics of the ancient world are recruited by psychically-empowered Lictors to help solve an ancient mystery that should never have been investigated. Standalone.
- The Books of the Raksura. Sword and Sorcery, except informed by the Nature Channel rather than the History Channel. Come watch a lost Consort find his place among a matriarchal society of dragon-like shapeshifters.
(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)
These are great suggestions! I've only read All Systems Red by Martha Wells, but I really want to read more of her stuff.
ReplyDeleteHere is my post.
Right up until Murderbot started getting its acclaim, I considered her one of the most criminally underrated of current writers. Can't really say that now, though.
DeleteI've not heard of Barbara Hambly, but he books you've listed have piqued my interest. Cheers, Michael! 🙂
ReplyDeleteShe's got quite the selection, and writes in a number of genres.
DeleteAwesome recommendations, Michael. I read Lovecraft in college, but not Tolkien. I would be curious about the Ile-Rein books. My daughter loved The Mortal Instruments series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/04/wednesday-weekly-challenge-books-i-want.html
Mortal Instruments would be another good recommendation.
DeleteI have not read any of these yet, but I’m adding them to my TBR list. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, RIP my TBR after this go-round!
DeleteWell, that's two new writers to look for!
ReplyDeletePris cilla King
They're both very, very good.
Delete